Lucknow: As many as 72 plots in two industrial estates in Fatehpur district of Uttar Pradesh were allotted to a state minister 10 years ago – when he was a Samajwadi Party MP from the constituency and the party was running the state. All the plots have been lying unused, have no lease deeds against them, nor has a single rupee been paid against them.
The revelation came in the wake of the state government identifying vacant plots ahead of the recently concluded Global Investors Summit (GIS) 2023, when a not-for-profit organisation flagged how the plots have been lying unused since they were allotted a decade ago, all to current Micro Small Medium Enterprises (MSME) minister Rakesh Sachan.
In his 11 February letter to commissioner and director (industries), UP, Mayur Maheshwari, and Fatehpur district magistrate Shruti Sharma, Satyendra Singh, president of the Laghu Udyog Bharati’s (LUB) Fatehpur unit, highlighted how the said industrial units are not functioning due to lack of facilities. LUB is a pan-India organisation working for micro and small industries since 1994.
Listing out the number of industrial plots allotted against the number of industrial units functioning, Singh alleged that in the mini industrial area in Chakhana area, 32 of the 36 plots have been allotted to Sachan, but no unit has been set up on any of these. “Thirty-two plots have been allotted to one person – Rakesh Sachan – whose address is not known,” said the complaint. Likewise, it alleged that in the mini industrial estate in Sudhwapur area, 40 of the total 45 industrial plots have been allotted but no industrial unit is set up there either. ThePrint has a copy of the complaint.
“40 plots are allotted to one person, Rakesh Sachan, whose address is unknown,” the complaint read. All the allotments were reportedly made in 2012-13.
After the news about the allotment went viral, the minister held a press conference in Fatehpur Friday and claimed that the allotment was made to Abhinav Seva Sansthan – an organisation based in Kanpur’s Ghatampur which owns an inter college and other educational institutions in the area.The organisation was founded by Sachan who continues to be a part of the managing committee.
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‘No fee paid, no lease deed’
In his letter, Singh said, “Fatehpur falls in the category of extremely-backward districts and while MoUs worth Rs 848 crore have been signed in the GIS-2023, it is extremely important to develop the industrial units to implement these MoUs on the ground.”
Speaking to ThePrint, Singh said that these 72 plots were allotted to Sachan when he was the MP from Fatehpur from the Samajwadi Party which was in power in UP at the time of the allotment.
“Not a single rupee has been paid as fee against the plots as per rules nor was any lease deed signed. I had raised the matter six months ago, during a meeting of the Udyog Bandhu – a government agency to help entrepreneurs invest in the state – in which the DM and the ADM (finance) were also present. The DM had immediately directed the general manager, District Industries Centre (DIC), to investigate the matter but since the department falls under the department of MSME and Export Promotion, which is headed by Sachan, no one dared to move,” he alleged.
On how the matter came to the fore, Singh said the state government was identifying industrial plots across the state in the run-up to the GIS-2023. “Subsequently, in December, several allotments were cancelled after it came to fore that they had not set up any units on the plots. But there was no action against the minister. Does he not fall in the list?” he asked.
Singh said that according to government rules, the allotment of an industrial plot is automatically cancelled in case of failure to pay 10 per cent of the fee within a month of allotment. “Even if the fee is paid, if there is no lease deed within six months of the allotment, it stands cancelled. Further, allotment is automatically cancelled if production does not start within two years in an industrial unit,” he said.
‘Pay fine or get lease deed in 15 days’
On 15 February, DIC general manager Anjaneesh Pratap Singh wrote to the minister’s organisation, Abhinav Seva Sansthan, asking it to pay the 10 per cent fees in 15 days or get the lease deed registered and give the stamp duty, the minister confirmed to ThePrint.
“My organisation has replied to the GM (DIC) the same day that it doesn’t need the land any more since there is no need for educational institutions at the site as two institutions have come up nearby. They have been told that the plots will be returned to the department,” he said.
Asked if the plots will be redistributed to businessmen interested in setting up industrial units, Sachan said it would be done if there were genuine takers.
Speaking to ThePrint, the minister pinned the blame on the department. “Why did they not give any such letter before? It is a big blunder on their part. I got to know about it only on 15 February when the letter came,” he claimed.
Sources in the government told ThePrint that the letter to Sachan’s organisation was shot off when the matter reached the top echelons of the UP government.
GM (DIC), Fatehpur, Anjaneesh Pratap Singh told ThePrint that they have sought guidance from the UP commissioner and director (industries) on how to proceed in the matter. When asked about news reports which quoted him as saying that the process of recovery of 10 per cent fees has been initiated, Singh said recovery does not happen like that and the minister has himself said that they will not keep the plots now.
“Now, guidance has been sought on this issue from the headquarters,” he said.
Who is minister Sachan
Considered a senior Kurmi leader of Kanpur region who once enjoyed proximity to the Mulayam Singh Yadav camp, Sachan left the SP to join the Congress soon after he was denied an MP ticket in 2019 general elections and even became a part of the core group of senior UP leaders led by Priyanka Gandhi Vadra.
Ahead of the 2022 assembly elections, he joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and got a Cabinet berth in Yogi 2.0.
But this land controversy is not the first time he has courted trouble. In August last year, on being held guilty in an Arms Acts case against him in 1991 for possessing an illegal firearm, the Cabinet minister allegedly took the court order file and “vanished” from a Kanpur court.
Two days later, he surrendered before the court and was sentenced to a year of imprisonment with a fine of Rs 1,500. However, a few hours later, he was granted bail on a bond of Rs 50,000.
(Edited by Smriti Sinha)
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